Andrew L. Stone

In a career that spanned more than 40 years, writer-director Andrew L. Stone has embraced nearly every type of film, including more than a few musicals.

The professorial-looking Stone made "The Great Victor Herbert" (1939), "Song of Norway" (1970) and "The Great Waltz" (1972).

Stone's initial effort in the business was a two-reeler titled "The Elegy" (1926). He had raised $3,200 and decided to strike out on his own after knocking about for a half-dozen years. He succeeded in renting the old standing "Scaramouche" French village set in Hollywood for $500.

Stone really took up crime in a big way with "Confidence Girl" in 1952, hitting his stride with such thrillers as "The Steel Trap," "Blueprint for Murder," "The Night Holds Terror," "Julie," "Cry Terror," "The Decks Ran Red," "The Last Voyage" and "Ring of Fire."

"Those thrillers were either wholly true or compilation of truths. I collected factual detective magazines almost back to the beginning and still receive eight a month. They are all systematically filed and I still get ideas from them," Stone said.

As a writer, director and producer, he developed his own pattern of on-location shooting, which by 1972 had become the norm for film-making.